The CNFJ commendation, signed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy, hailed the effort as "the most historically significant event in the U.S. - Japan alliance in the last 30 years."

FISC Yokosuka's Commanding Officer Capt. Mike Arnold said the award confirmed the value and effectiveness of FISC's diversity, teamwork and leadership, and demonstrated the strong relationship FISC has with all of its CNFJ customers.

"Every FISC employee deserves to take pride in this recognition," he said. "We have a tremendous talent pool here, and the efforts of every FISC employee to support this historic forward deployment were truly appreciated by both 'GW' and Kitty Hawk crews.

"I think we have an exceptional relationship with Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY), and I believe that helps sustain our reputation from all our customers on the waterfront continues to this day."

GW arrived in Yokosuka Sept. 25, 2008. Planning and preparation for the event, however, took place long before GW's predecessor Kitty Hawk singled up all lines, and departed Yokosuka for the last time in May 2008.

Logistics preparations for GW's arrival in Yokosuka began early in 2006, when FISC Yokosuka teams from the Operations and Regional Services Departments joined other local agencies to plan a massive choreography of stores, provisions and equipment transfers and on-loads, crew and family transportation and housing, as well as planning for the on load and off load of the carrier's air element, Carrier Air Wing 5, based out of Atsugi.
GW's arrival included the trade-out of approximately 2,700 personnel.

Crew and family management was a cornerstone of GW support. Part of the planning included the dispatch of FISC Yokosuka Household Goods Division experts to Norfolk, Va., who developed an advance-planning and preparation program for the 240 families of GW crew members making the hemispherical move from the eastern seaboard of the United States to the other side of the international dateline and the land of the rising sun. Other FISC Personal Property Division members actively served on the GW's Homeport Change Committee.

FISC Yokosuka Inventory Management teams, meanwhile, coordinated a transformation of tens of thousands of inventory repair parts, many from the Kitty Hawk, which became instantly obsolete when GW officially assumed her forward-deployed role. They added 401 consumable line items at a cost of $1.2 million (with NAVICP adding 1,392 items of repairable at $1.6 million.) In total, 1,794 line items valued at $2.8 million were accounted for.

FISC Yokosuka Operations Department Logistics Support Representatives (LSRs) Lead generated an area traffic plan to mitigate the enormous complexities of routing hundreds of crane, truck, van and other vehicle and pedestrian movements in, out and around the carrier berth area in support of the arrival. FISC personnel even served as members of the U.S. Army Traffic Engineering Study Committee to engineer vehicle traffic flow.

"Their efforts were greatly appreciated," said Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka Capt. Dan Weed. "It was great working with the FISC team."

"There really was no department at FISC who didn't have some hand in bringing GW here smoothly," Arnold said.
Even the FISC Yokosuka contracting department - four months prior to GW's arrival - was inking special contracts with local businesses to accommodate housing for the local temporary assignment of up to 600 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard civilians who support GW engineering upkeep and maintenance during in port periods.

Today, when not on deployment, USS George Washington rests pier side less than 500 yards from doorstep of FISC Yokosuka headquarters, moored to a newly constructed $112 million pier designed for a ship three football fields long, weighing 97,000 tons and sporting a 4.5 acre flight deck.

FISC Yokosuka, one of seven supply centers under Commander, Fleet and Industrial Supply Centers (COMFISCS), is the Western Pacific region's largest Navy logistics command, includes more than 20 detachments, fuel terminals and sites from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to Guam, from Misawa, Japan to Sydney, Australia.

COMFISCS comprises more than 6,400 military and civilian logistics professionals operating as a single cohesive team providing global logistics services from more than 200 locations worldwide. A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP), headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., COMFISCS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.

NAVSUP's primary mission is to provide U.S. naval forces with quality supplies and services. With headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP oversees logistics programs in the areas of supply operations, conventional ordnance, contracting, resale, fuel, transportation, and security assistance. In addition, NAVSUP is responsible for quality of life issues for our naval forces, including food service, postal services, Navy Exchanges, and movement of household goods.

For more news from U.S. Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka, visit www.navy.mil/local/fiscyokosuka/.